日本瓦斯株式会社
株式会社ミロク情報サービス
株式会社H&K
ATHLETA
ゼビオグループ

MATCH

2020 MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE 29th Sec - Montedio Yamagata vs Tokyo Verdy

Match Report

This day was the final match of Verdy’s fourth run of five consecutive games this season. After two consecutive scoreless draws, the team’s priority as they traveled to face Montedio Yamagata was to score goals and earn the full three points.

 

As they looked to break the trend that enveloped them, Verdy made big changes to the squad. Matheus returned to the starting lineup after recovering from the injury he suffered before the previous match, while Shohei Takahashi slotted in at left side attacker. In midfield, Rihito Yamamoto was chosen at libero, while Naoto Sawai and Koki Morita were paired in front of him. Finally, on the front line, Jin Hanato was chosen in the free role, along with Shion Inoue at ride wide striker and Mizuki Arai at left wide striker.

 

Verdy were the first of the teams to develop their rhythm as the match began. The players were able to win the ball and carry it high up the pitch, after which they began to probe at the Yamagata goal. However, they were unable to generate shots and instead suffered on the counterattack. In the 6th minute, a long ball fell behind the Verdy back line and a Yamagata attacker had a free run on goal. Matheus left his line to close him down, but the ball was played past the Verdy goalkeeper and rolled into the back of the net. Verdy now looked to push back, but they suffered a series of mistakes in their build up play that prevented them from carrying the ball to the front line. With few players making runs up top and no avenues in on goal, the players were forced to switch sides and recycle possession repeatedly. In the 32nd minute, Verdy would be pinned back by a counterattack and after successfully blocking a shot on goal, an opposition player pounced on the second ball and let loose with a mid-range effort that found the right corner of the net to put the team down by two. Hoping to change the momentum, the Verdy bench would move in the 41st minute and Sawai was taken off for Koike. However, the players were unable to generate a positive rhythm and in the second minute of additional time, a looping pass over the back line led to another goal, putting Verdy three behind as the half time whistle sounded.

 

At half time, Verdy would once again look to change the momentum by making three substitutions. However, they were still unable to break down the opposition for large portions of the second half. In the 72nd minute, Hanato acted as a target man and played Koike in on goal, but his shot just missed the target. From that point, the players were better able to stretch the defense and create space, but they still had trouble creating shooting opportunities.  Finally, in the 80th minute, Yamagata broke into the right corner of the Verdy penalty area and a cross was turned in at the near post for a fourth goal. Verdy brought on Okubo and refused to give up, but nothing went right and they were unable to further impact the result before the final whistle.

 

The four goals claimed against them on this day were the most Verdy have conceded this season. In addition, the team’s emphasis on attacking play makes the three matches they have gone without a goal of their own hurt even more. During this recent stretch of five matches, the team achieved victories by multiple goals, suffered draws after being unable to score, and lost by multiple goals themselves. It was certainly an eventful two weeks. Now, the players will have a one-week break in which they can try to stabilize things before the next run of five consecutive matches, when they will once again try to pile up points. The squad must confront their style head on and improve as much as time will allow.

Read more

Post-match comments

Manager Hideki Nagai

Your thoughts on the match?
It was a very disappointing game. In particular, I regret that the first half did not go according to our plan. As far as the second half is concerned, I think it was more acceptable. I will look over what went wrong and work to make improvements. I know that the players are doing their best and that they tried many new things, but in the first half, especially during the early minutes when things were going our way, I think our problem was overconfidence and a lack of competitive spirit. We seemed to forget that everything about the way we play is designed to earn goals and we didn’t press our advantage enough or play with immediate determination to score. We may not have much time left to work on things, but I want to make improvements to that aspect. We didn’t play badly over the course of the 90 minutes as a while, but we need to get back to basics, whether it’s showing the will to compete, winning or losing the second ball, or not giving up possession of the ball. As far as the first half is concerned, there are a lot of things to go over in those areas and in addressing them, I want to help the players return to our style of play. Finally, I want to say that I am truly sorry to the fans and supporters who traveled all the way to Yamagata and cheered us on until the very end. Next time, I want us to play the kind of football that will reward their support.

In no other match this season did the team seem so unable to bypass the first wave of the opposition press. You mentioned that things didn’t go according to plan. Can you be specific about what went wrong?
We wanted to be a bit more varied in our positioning, but it didn’t go well in the beginning.

What did you hope to accomplish by lining up with two players in a free role up top and with the changes in personnel from the previous match?
With the double free man, I wanted Shion (Inoue) to create an advantage for us in midfield and also lessen Hanato’s workload by freeing him from the responsibility of dropping back into midfield. That way, he could play closer to the goal and do more near the square and finishing zones. I also wanted to open up some space on the right side that we could use. We didn’t have long to work on these things and the players did well to try in spite of that. Honestly, though, it didn’t go very well.

Your back line was breached several times, today. What are your thoughts on that?
We were weak in applying pressure to the players making the pass. I’m also disappointed that we lost almost all the battles for the second ball. We have to look back at those aspects of our play and do the obvious things like closing down space in the middle or executing challenge and cover. I definitely want to address those issues.

Read more

Post-match comments

DF6Shohei Takahashi

Your thoughts on the match?
We allowed the opposition to take the initiative, today. I don’t know if they just did a good job of scouting us, but it felt like their tactics won out.

Your back line was breached several times, today. What are your thoughts on that?
Our opponents knew that we play with a high line and we needed to make adjustments on our own. I regret that we weren’t able to do that, today.

In no other match this season did the team seem so unable to bypass the first wave of the opposition press.
We didn’t feel like we were being pressured that much, but our spacing wasn’t good, both in terms of our positions and in terms of keeping things simple.

Midway through the match, Matheus began playing more long balls from his position. Was that something that you were aiming for as a team?
Not specifically, but we will always try to locate open spaces and I think that was probably Matheus exercising his own judgment. I wouldn’t say he was wrong to do that, as we need to expand our repertoire of ways to get over the halfway line with our buildup when the opposition puts us under pressure. I think are a lot of ways that we might be pressed and when the opposition is particularly good at it, like Yamagata were today, we have trouble responding.

Read more

MF20Shion Inoue

Your thoughts on the match?
I don’t think we started that poorly, but we made some mistakes and the goals we conceded were wasteful. It especially hurt that we gave up the third goal in the first half. If we had held them to two goals, we would still have had a chance to get something from the result. The third goal stung.

Your back line was breached several times, today. What are your thoughts on that?
They were aiming for the space behind our side backs, but we were also a bit surprised by the way they attacked, which hadn’t been part of our scouting. We didn’t do a good enough job of adjusting during the match.

You seemed to struggle with your own pressing as well, throughout the match.
Our plan was that one of either myself or Hanato would press their center backs while the other put pressure on their anchor. However, we ended up allowing their anchor or even their central midfielders to get free a number of times, while our own central midfielders were being drawn too far back in defense. We needed to change the trajectory of the match and make adjustments.

Their defense seemed aware of the fact that you would try to pull them to one side and then switch play to the opposite end. It seemed like they set some traps for you.
I think every team is aware of the way we play. It’s our job to observe how the opposition are making their approach and then make decisions about how we should adjust.

Read more

Share The Match!

SCHEDULE